


Piper Mclean and the (i'll think of something later)

by 4_of_diamonds



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Grief/Mourning, Pre-The Trials of Apollo, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24126892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4_of_diamonds/pseuds/4_of_diamonds
Summary: au where leo actually died at the end of Blood of OlympusPiper Mclean, understandably bitter and needing a distraction, sets out on a quest to finish what her best friend started.Find the island of Ogygia. And bring back Calypso.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> uh had this idea and impulsively started writing it last week.

Piper sat up, getting ready for another late night walk.  Nights were better for moving around. No one was there to talk to you, and it wasn’t like she could sleep anyway. 

She grabbed her dagger from her bedside table, and headed out the door. She trailed across the campground. At night, there wasn’t anyone to bother her. Only the summer heat wrapping around her. She had no doubt the rest of her cabin had noticed the late night outings, just too afraid to mention them to her. 

She just needed some time by herself. Was that so demanding? The only time she had was when everyone was asleep. 

Piper found herself at the entrance of the woods. Was it a bad idea to got there at night, alone? Yes. Was that going to stop her? No. She had a dagger and a plan, and could only hope that was enough. She had waited long enough to do this. She might lose the motivation if she waited.

Unlike the other nights, where she wandered aimlessly around the camp, tonight she had a specific destination.

She stepped into the trees. Piper was pretty sure she still knew the way. This spot had been their hangout spot of last spring. Sure, the other Athena and Hephaestus kids were there, but it had been a place that belonged to the three of them. 

Putting pressure on her ankle hurt her. She just which she kept forgetting about it. Piper hadn’t bothered to try and get it healed. It didn’t hurt when she wasn’t moving, which was most of the time. 

She had broken it (again) two days ago, after Jason dropped her from his arms. She watched the explosion of gold falling in through the sky, watched as Jason caught their best friend instead. Somehow it was the only thing injured as she hit the ground. She had hobbled over, pain shooting through her leg, reaching for the physician's cure, it should have been in her pocket--

Piper let out a wail, burst of noise in the night, but caught herself. She couldn’t cry now, unless she wanted to give away her position to every monster in Long Island Sound. She could cry when she got to safety. It wouldn’t be much further.

She tightened the grip on her dagger, and continued to trek through the forest.

Before long, she reached her destination: Bunker 9. Where it had all begun. 

She hadn’t gone here since the Argo II took off. They had so many memories of building for hours, late nights, near death experiences and the rest.

And there would be no more.

Piper punched in the code to let her in. She pushed open the door. 

It was so strange to see the place empty. For months, it had been a busy construction site, filled with demigods and materials. The silence was eerie.

The recovered ruins of the Argo II had been moved here to keep safe. There wasn’t much, most of it probably useless, but no one wanted to get rid of any of it yet. This was all they had left. They planned to look through it later, see what could be reused

Now was late enough. Piper needed just a small fragment of her friend. The lacking was too much.

The few recovered documents and papers from Leo's cabin were spread all over the benches. Plans, drawings, sphere codes. Leo had never been organized, but doubted anyone could actually make sense of any of this. It was a miracle any of it had been found in the Argo II wreck.

Piper flipped through the papers. She wasn’t looking for anything specific, just something to give her comfort. Until she found something that intrigued her. 

A charcoal drawing, judging from the black smudges on her fingers when she picked it up. It depicted a girl who looked around sixteen. She was undeniably beautiful, with long hair pulled into a braid and a soft smile. 

There was no way Leo made this. Sure, he could visualise and sketch anything mathematical or mechanical, but he didn’t have artistic abilities like this. Whoever drew this captured a mass of emotion on one paper. The girl, whoever she was smiling, but had a hidden sadness behind her eyes, some kind of longing. It made Piper’s chest ache.

Most likely, it was Hazel’s work. But why would Leo keep this? Who was this person? She didn’t look like any one they had met along their adventure. Then again, Leo had fallen for every pretty girl that didn’t try and kill them. And a few that did.

She almost chuckled

Piper carefully folded the drawing into her back pocket. She would ask Hazel about it later. 

She turned her attention to the rest of the room. In the centre sat what was left of Festus. The dragon's eyes were dim. Three of its legs had broken off, and there was a dent in the side of its body. 

She sat down beside the dragon, trailing her hand across its head. The metal was uncomfortably cool.

Despite all the repairs, months as a figurehead, and its ultimate return, Festus’ days were over. Without Leo to fix him up, there wasn’t anything they could do.

Then again, she had proved him wrong once.

“Come on, Festus,” she begged, channeling the little power she still had into her trembly voice. All of her longing and sadness surged toward her palm. “Wake up. For me. For Leo.”

She had to believe she could do this. But there was no prickling of warmth like last time. No surge of electricity. Festus had shut off, permanently.

“Argh!” She kicked the dragon. The surface was metal, and the force reflected back at Piper, shuddering through her foot. There was too much weight placed on her other ankle, and she collapsed on the floor. 

The dragon hissed. Piper’s eyes widened. Had she done something? The eyes didn't light up, but a small flap of metal opened on the side of the dragon. She must have hit a button somewhere. 

A glass vial rose from Festus. It held a small amount of glowing liquid. Piper reached out. It shouldn't have been possible.

The physician’s cure.

It had been here all along. She could have saved him.

Piper was tempted to crush it in her palm, or smash it against the floor, but it was valuable. Someday there would be another Leo, and maybe they could be saved.

She carefully placed it on one of the tables.

After that, she slumped back onto the floor, and released the build up of emotion inside her. 

The tears streamed down her face. Her eyes were hurting from the constant crying. She didn’t know it was possible; all the salt in your tears could sting your eyes.

None of it felt real. None of it felt permanent. But Leo Valdez was gone.

There was a sound from the door behind her. Piper sat up, slipping Katoptris into her hand and turned to the door.

It slid open, revealing a surprised son of Hades.

“What the fuck, Nico?” She brought the knife down, back to her hip.

He held up his hands. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What are you doing here?” she snapped. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so harsh. She wiped the tears off her face.

Her tone didn’t affect him. “I was already awake. And then I heard a yell. I thought I should investigate.” He began to wander around the room.

So someone had heard her. At least it wasn’t a monster. 

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Piper asked.

“I’m pretty sure I was asleep for around sixteen hours. I haven’t felt like this for ages.”

“Felt like what?”

“Well rested.” Nico shook his head. “What about you? What are you doing?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Piper mumbled. 

He nodded.

Piper didn’t want to admit it, but Nico was probably one of the last people she wanted to see at the moment. His presence reminded her of Leo. It wasn’t his fault. He just seemed to amplify her grief. She wondered if he had been able to contact Leo after he died. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to. 

Nico approached one of the tables, and picked something up. “Hold on. Is this--”

Piper tried to hold back her tears, but that was never going to happen. “It was here all along.” She tried to explain more, but she couldn’t admit that. It was her fault.

She slumped down onto the floor with a sigh.

Nico carefully placed the vial back down, before sitting down beside her. He stared at the wreck of Festus.

Piper waited. She thought that he wanted to speak  
  


Nico stared at the floor. “Some deaths can’t be prevented.”

His words made her tense. She gulped. Because he was wrong. She could have done something, but she was supposed to be prepared. All that work going to get the cure . . . for nothing. 

He must have seen her uncertain reaction, and he hurried to correct himself. “Um-- that’s not what I meant. You see, um . . . ”

Piper was not sure where he was going with this

“Sometimes there’s nothing you can do. Trying to fix it, or thinking you could, can just make it worse.”

Piper sat silently. He was trying to make her feel better, and she appreciated it, but she wanted to be by herself. That was the whole reason she came out here. She hugged her knees into her chest.

Nico sighed. “Before Hazel, I had another sister. She arrived at camp with me, and almost immediately joined the hunters of Artemis.”

Piper thought back to the time they had seen the hunters last December. She didn’t remember anyone who looked like Nico, or a daughter of Hades.

“She was chosen for a quest shortly after,” he continued. “The prophecy warned at least two people would die along the way. There was nothing I could do.”

The air seemed to turn chilly around her. She could feel Nico’s pain, losing someone close to you and being helpless to stop it. That’s what she was feeling. Swimming through helplessness as if it was the thick, inky water of the nymphaeum in Athens.

But she could have stopped it. If she had the physician's cure, than it wouldn’t have been her fault--

“I spent the next few months travelling, trying to find a way to bring her back. Obsessing over that . . . didn't go well. Eventually, she chose to be reborn into a new life.”

The sadness seeped out of him, but strangely, it relaxed her. To have some kid of understanding.

“Children of hades . . ." He tapped his finger on the hard floor. "They’re not very good at letting go of things. But it was something my father told me; that some deaths can’t be prevented. That you need to step back and realise that sometimes you are helpless.

“It took me a long time, but I think I understand now. You can make as many promises and plans as you want, but there’s things you can’t stop." He glanced up at her. "It's not your fault, and it’s not Leo’s fault. Even without prophecies and fate to decide things.”

It didn’t matter about the prophecies. She had a chance to go against it, and failed. Yes, they had been warned;  _ to storm or fire the world must fall. _ But they had worked together. She had had hope that maybe they could escape what was coming. 

Maybe it was because they had worked together. If she and Jason hadn’t gotten involved--

“No matter what you’re thinking, you couldn’t have stopped it, Piper,” Nico said. "It’s going to make it worse, thinking over what you or other people could have changed. And you don’t want to lose yourself finding doing so.”

Nico D’angelo was a mystery; Piper had only met him after they rescued him in Athens and hadn’t spent much time together after that. She knew hardly anything about his past. But he had relaxed her, if only for a little while. The room seemed less harsh, no longer reminded her of her pain. 

She yawned. The sleepless nights were catching up with her.

He stood up. “Maybe you should come back with me to the infirmary.”

She traced her fingers along the edge of Festus’ head. “I want to stay here.” Not only did she not have the motivation to get up, she didn’t want to leave this jumble of memories. 

“I don’t think that's the best idea.” He held out his hand, and pulled Piper to her feet. She winced as her foot touched the floor. “And maybe we can get that ankle of yours fixed up.”

“It’s nothing,” she replied, ignoring the dull ache.

“C’mon. You need to rest.”

She wasn’t going to be able to rest. Not when she kept replaying the scene whenever she closed her eyes. She was more exhausted then when the visions in her knife kept her awake. None of that had been certain. This was permanent.

Nico picked up the glass vial, and slipped it into his pocket. “We should take this with us.” 

Piper didn’t care what he did with it. She didn't want to look at it any more.

The pair left the bunker and roamed back into the woods. They walked without speaking, the only sounds were their feet trudging across leaves and twigs. 

Eventually, they reached the big house, where the infirmary was situated. The door creaked as she pushed it open. All the lights were shut off. Will Solace was slumped over in a chair in the corner of the room, exhausted from looking after the various injuries from the battle.

Nico pointed to one of the free beds. “You can sleep over there.”

She sat down with a sigh. The idea of trying to sleep again made her nervous. Everytime she lay down her head, visions creeped back into her mind. 

“If it helps, I might be able to reduce your dreams,” Nico said.

She frowned. “You can do that?”

“Something I’ve been testing out recently.” He stretched his feelings. “I’ve got small control over dreams. I could try and minimise the . . . memories affecting you”

“Yeah,” she said. “I . . . would appreciate that.”

Piper lay down on the cot. Her muscles eased. The change of location was nice. She still hadn’t gotten used to the bright and bubbly Aphrodite cabin, especially without staying there in months. Here it was strangely still.

Piper closed her eyes, and drifted to sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh geez I've been meaning to update this for ages. I kind of forgot about it and was busy even though I finished this chapter ages ago. this story isn't dead yet
> 
> anyway drew tanaka deserved better
> 
> enjoy

Piper woke up feeling not exhausted, for the first time in three days. Whatever magic Nico had done worked.

Someone had put a brace on her ankle, most likely Solace. He was moving around, tending to the other patients while chatting with Nico. She wiggled her foot. The pain had definitely eased a little, shifting to a forgettable throb. 

The sun was already streaming through the windows. She must have woken up fairly late. Everyone would be starting their day. 

Normally at camp, she would be up already, working on the Argo II. That was what it was like the last time she had been here. Always working. On the Argo II, she had no other choice. There was always something to do--planning, navigating, fighting. 

Someone knocked on the door of the infirmary. Piper sat up, in time to see Annabeth carrying a plate.

She smiled. “I was wondering where you ended up.” She placed the plate on the table beside her. 

Today’s breakfast was some toast and a muffin. Yesterday was eggs, and the day before had been pancakes. For a reason Piper couldn’t figure out, they had been blue, though tasted fine. Just strange.

Annabeth had gone from stealing Piper’s breakfast to bringing it to her. Not that she minded. If it weren’t for her, she would forget to eat altogether. 

She carefully grazed Piper's hand. “Capture the flag isn’t too far away. Are you sure you don’t want to join?”

Since the end of the battle, everyone had been planning for a massive Greeks vs Romans game of capture the flag. A way to mark their new unity, cheer people up. A time for cooperation and friendly competition. The Hermes cabin had been placing bets for the last two days. It might have been a fun idea, but Piper had no motivation to get up. She didn’t want to be with other people for now.

“I think I’ll stay here.”

Annabeth nodded, and pulled her into a hug. 

“Don’t have too much fun,” Piper said.

She smiled. “Don’t worry, there’s no way I’m letting Reyna win this.” 

“Good luck.”

Annabeth winked, and headed back out the door

Piper sighed. What could she do now? She didn’t feel like there was any reason to stick around. The last thing she wanted to do was take up more of Will’s time. The best idea was to head back to her cabin, and figure out where to go from there. If the rest of the campers were at capture the flag, maybe she could find a quiet spot somewhere. 

She pulled on her shoes, and stood up off her bed. She grabbed her dagger. Will or Nico didn’t seem to notice her leave.

Outside, everyone was running around preparing. People hurriedly donning pieces of armour and going through strategies. The ares cabin wheeled out their chariot. All of it, a sea of orange and purple. 

Piper strided across the camp. No one acknowledged her, and she made it to the Aphrodite cabin. She still hadn’t gotten used to the aggressive pink exterior, but it felt more like her home than when she first arrived.

She pulled open the door, and shut it behind her. There. Silence.

The Aphrodite kids were so chatty, which normally she didn’t mind. She just needed a break. From everyone.

Piper threw herself onto her bed. Even the ceiling was pink. It didn't bother her as much anymore, but come on, have some variety. Her mom was the goddess of beauty, not poor design choices.

She could waste a few hours here. To bad she had a short fucking attention span and hadn't lasted five mintutes. SHe stood up, and started to pace around the room. She needed something to do . . . but everything felt purposeless. Nothing useful

Until she had an idea. Something a bit impulsive, a bit of change. Piper picked up her dagger. She ambled over the mirror in the bathroom. She lifted a piece of her hair, pressed the dagger against it--

“Piper, no!”

She turned, letting the hair fall from her fingertips. 

Behind her stood Drew Tanaka. Great.

Piper didn't know how she had missed her while she had been walking around the room. Drew had pretty well stopped bothering her since she took over as counselor. She had stopped terrorising her cabin as well, instead sinking back with the rest of her friends and minded her own business. Still, she was probably the last person Piper wanted to see at the moment. She could already feel the tension bubbling inside her.

“Please, hon, if you’re going to cut your hair, at least do it properly.”

She began to dig through one of the draws.

“Shouldn’t you be at capture the flag?” Piper asked.

Drew scrunched her nose. “Ew, no. I don’t do that stuff. I could just ask people to give me the flag with a little charmspeak. There. Done.”

Piper had never considered that strategy. She didn't think Drew considered strategy.

She pulled out a black bag, and unrolled it on the bathroom counter. There were more scissors, combs and more than should have been possible. Why Drew had a hairdressers kit, Piper didn’t know.

“Let’s get you somewhere to sit.” Drew darted into the other room and pulled over a pink and white chair. Yep, this was actually happening. She picked up a pair of scissors and got to work. 

The first few pieces of hair fell to the floor. Piper blinked. What had just happened? She had come back here for some peace. Suddenly Drew was cutting her hair.

Alright. It wasn’t like she could get up now. 

Drew worked in silence. Piper was too nervous to speak at all. But when it was quiet, she thought too much and then it always cycled back to  _ him _ .

Her heart beat increased. Not now. Her face grew hot, she couldn’t cry now--

“Hey.” Drew’s words washed over her. “Relax. There’s nothing to worry about.” The tension eased. Piper had never been so glad charmspeak existed.

Drew smiled, and kept trimming. Piper watched as her hair started to disappear, the once choppy lines she usually had smooth for once. 

Then Drew broke the silence. “I had a friend a while back. She was an unclaimed demigod, but she would have fit so well in this cabin. But anyway, we got along very well.”

“Then what?” Piper muttered. She wasn't in the mood for stories.

Drew sighed. “She died in the battle of New York. Almost a year ago.”

The room shifted, like the whole cabin was holding its breath. Piper saw Drew’s expression falter, a blip of pain after so long. She watched a chunk of her hair fall to the floor.

“I didn’t handle it well," she said. She combed through a few strands of hair. "I was mean to a lot of people, present company included. Which, I’m sorry for.”

Drew? Apologising? Now that was not something she had ever expected. 

She tilted Piper’s head backwards so she looked towards the ceiling and the edge Drew’s face.

“For a long time, I was angry. I blamed Silena, for being a spy. If it weren’t for her, maybe we wouldn’t have been ambushed--” her voice caught. Drew’s hands tightened around the scissors. “I blamed the gods for never claiming her, so she felt out of place where she should have belonged, and for leaving us to fight their battle. I blamed Percy- _fucking_ -Jackson for turning sixteen and bringing this whole mess upon us. But none of that was going to change any of it. There was nothing that _could_ have changed it.” Her words sounded similar to Nico's the night before. She didn't want to think about fate and prophecies, even if it was true.

“But It was my fault!” Piper yelled. “I was supposed to have the physician's cure. I failed.”

She had imagined what the others would look like when she told them. That they would be horrified. That their friend could have been alive if it weren't for Piper. Drew only sighed. “I could have done a lot of things. I could have fought better, practiced now and then so I could actually fight. And I regret those things. But the sooner I realised I couldn’t change them, the sooner I was able to move on."

Piper wasn't sure if she could ever achieve that. Her brain was like a water mill, picking up more and more thoughts and spinning on its own. 

“Yeah, Silena made mistakes. But she tried to fix them. She was a hero.” Her voice trembled. “And so is Valdez. And you.”

The tears let loose. They had been waiting for too long, and the build up was too much. She was so sick of crying. 

“No, sweetheart, don’t cry.” Drew wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Never mind. You’re not wearing mascara. You can keep going.”

Her whole body shuddered as she tried to suck in air, but the deluge of her emotions pushed against it. Her face was turning red, soaked with hot tears. 

"You saved the world, Piper." Drew kept trimming her hair, unbothered.  “There is no point getting caught up in all the things you could have changed. Stop thinking about it, and let yourself feel."

She had once said almost identical words to Annabeth Chase. _You can't control every contingency. Trust that it will be okay anyway._ She had been talking about love, and fear.

And pain. They were all the same.

All of this was not something she expected from Drew. Whether it was charmspeak or the understanding from her own experience, Drew had relaxed her, somehow. 

“But I promise you.” She fluffed the edges of Piper’s hair. “It’s going to get better.”

She lifted Piper’s chin so that she could see herself in the mirror. “How does it look?”

Piper exhaled. The ends of her hair grazed her jawline. The cutting was neat, less choppy than when she did it herself. Part of the weight on her had been lifted. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

Drew started to pack up her stuff. “If you tell anyone that this happened, I make you wear the shoes of shame.”

There was the Drew she knew. Piper smiled for the first time in days. “I thought we got rid of those."

"I have my ways."

Piper rolled her eyes. "But . . . thank you.”

“I couldn’t have an Aphrodite kid walking around with a bad haircut. What will people think of me?” She shook her head.  And just as quickly as she had spiralled into her day, Drew left, heading back to her bunk.

Piper ran her fingers through the ends of her hair. It looked nice. Something new. Something of her own choosing, a tiny thing in her life that wasn’t controlled by fate and those beyond her. Some kind of certainty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter before I wrote the first one; the first night I thought of this fic concept, I couldn't sleep because this scene was keeping me awake.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!


End file.
